Various applications require users to learn chorded input (i.e., input requiring two or more simultaneous activities at the same time). For instance, chorded input is required in teaching applications in fields such as musical instrument playing (e.g., piano), language-based learning (e.g., Korean), code-based learning (e.g., Braille, Morse code), text-entry, and a variety of other applications. Improved systems for teaching and learning chorded input are needed.
For instance, improved systems for teaching Braille are needed. Currently, thirty-nine million people in the world are blind. Learning to type the Braille system is time consuming and a major component of the rehabilitation and independence training for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Braille is especially difficult to learn for those who lose their sight later in life, such as the aging population, wounded veterans, and the increasing number of diabetics. Moreover, Braille instruction is neglected in schools, with only ten percent of those who are blind able to learn Braille using current methodologies.
The National Federation of the Blind calls illiteracy among the blind a “crisis.” Because of a lack in certified teachers and bureaucratic barriers to providing education, blind and low-vision students are not being taught Braille. For these individuals, Braille equates to reading and writing; without this education, they are illiterate. Furthermore, for the blind, Braille literacy directly correlates with academic success and employment (even in contrast with those proficient with screen-readers), leaving 74% of blind individuals unemployed. Mainstreaming blind students in the public school system, where significantly less time is available for learning Braille, is another significant cause for this crisis; the influx of speech in technology is also causing neglect in Braille instruction. Listening alone is not enough, however, as research shows that Braille provides a critical advantage for students in learning math, grammar, language, spelling, and science. Blind individuals, adults and students alike, even try to attend Rehabilitation Centers to gain these necessary skills for independent living. However, access to these facilities is difficult and requires a commitment to seven or more months of inpatient learning. There are only twelve such facilities in the United States, and for many, access to instruction here is also impossible because of financial or geographic constraints. Current technology for Braille instruction is limited to refreshable Braille displays and electronic Braillers. Methods used to teach Braille today may involve tactile flash cards, block models of the Braille cell, and hand guidance of the individual's fingers. Users first learn to read, then type letters. These methods can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
In addition to the Braille example provided above, improved systems for teaching other chorded input (e.g., musical instruments, code-based systems, text-entry, etc.) are also needed. For instance, improved systems for teaching stenotype, a text entry technique used for real-time transcription, are also desired. Similar to Braille, stenotype is also a chorded text entry system. Passive Haptic Learning of stenotype would aim to reduce exorbitant practice time for experts and lower the barriers to entry into this industry, which currently has vocational school dropout rates of 85%-95%.
In addition, with mobile and wearable devices on the rise, developers still search for a method of discrete text entry for these small systems. The user's need for discrete entry and the challenges of learning a new entry method pose a persistent trade-off that leaves most novel techniques abandoned. Mobile devices such as smartwatches, Google Glass, and other wearables are becoming increasingly popular, but users report a common complaint. Users want to have a form of nonverbal (silent) text entry, ideally eyes-free, using touch. The slim, streamlined nature of these devices precludes many standard text entry methods, though. There has been research in search of a solution—including new or optimized keyboard interfaces for smartwatches and novel entry methods such as rotational text entry. However, discrete text entry remains a challenge on these devices because it is hard to create an interface that a human can dexterously manipulate that does not include bulky external hardware or non-subtle physical gestures. In addition, mobile devices continue to decrease in size and many extremely low-profile devices such as hearing aids, electronic textiles, and headsets cannot support these methods at all. Perhaps a non-visual, one-channel system like Morse code could provide some solution, but there are learning costs and barriers that prevent the adoption of many text entry systems such as this. Improved systems for conveying chorded input for eyes-free, silent text entry on small mobile devices is also desired.